Discover China

In Beijing’s Xicheng district is the Lu Xun Museum, which includes Lu Xun’s tiny courtyard house. This was where Lu Xun (1881-1936), who many say gave Chinese literature its modern form (baihua), wrote Chaohua Xishi (Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk) – his reminiscences from childhood to early youth – the poems that went into Ye Cao (Wild Grass), and several short stories like Pang Huang (Wanderings). The Lu Xun Museum is easily one of the most detailed shows on the life and times of 20th century China’s best-known man of letters and has 21,482 cultural relics under one roof. To find out more see the China Daily article Following in Lu Xun’s footsteps.

Earlier this week, official Japanese statistics confirmed that China overtook Japan in 2010 as the world’s second largest economy in terms of nominal gross domestic product (GDP), a position Japan had held since 1968. Unfortunately such news is likely to be exploited by some international commentators who seem keen to portray China and China’s growth negatively. The Xinhua News Special report: China’s boom all boon no bane to the world reveals how China’s path to development is in reality peaceful and of great benefit to the world:

“The Chinese people have suffered long enough from poverty. Our greatest and only strategic intention is to live a better life, in which every day is better than the previous one. We wish the same for all the people in the world.”

In my travels in China I’ve been fascinated by Chinese houses and their architecture, and when visiting the Imperial Palace (Forbidden City) in Beijing last month I was delighted to come across the book Chinese House in one of the Palace Museum shops.

Chinese House is a captivating pictorial biography of the common buildings in the cities and countryside of China. It’s produced by the Beijing-based Popcorn Idea Factory.

Other books in the Popcorn Idea Factory Essentially Chinese series include Chinese Stuff, a detailed exploration of the things usually used by ordinary people in their daily lives in China.